distant thuderstorms

You hear the cry of a young animal, Curiously you approach. The young animal seems to be abandoned and no scents linger nearby.

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Looking for this to be a hunting thread! Technically he hasn't found it yet so whoever joins is welcome to suggest what animal it is!

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 It was not compassion that drove him to find the sound. Not when he realized the sound was not that of wolven type. He had not managed to suss out what it was yet.

 The soft drizzle of spring rain created a damp atmosphere to the tracker's nose. He dug through the scents of Empyrean, the rich forest and mountain. The stale scents of old herds ran down the mountainside with the rain's runoff.

 What had abandoned their young? The question of reoccurring abandonment themes in his life suddenly might have been more interesting for a man of larger thought.

 Instead he focused only on a vulnerable thing, left to be eaten or culled by nature itself. He need only find where it had been abandoned in the crevices he searched through. If it proved to be a decent meal, then he had found another way to provide for Empyrean.

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The woman wandered trough the lands, only her ears flicking as she heard the cries of something small, something not wolf. She followed out of curiosity and a slightly familiar scent caught her nose. Sure enough, upon turning the corner she saw another of her pack. She cocked her head to the side slightly, her eyes flicking over the other wolf. She wanted to know what was going on, but she didn't want to interrupt or possibly startle the man. And, honestly she wasnt' one to speak up either. And so, she stood there for a moment, contemplating simply walking away, but her curiosity kept her standing there in the open, wondering what he was searching for and what the crying creature was.

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 He continued his tracking, his hunt. The cries seemed tired, weaker. He wondered if by the time he crossed it if his excursion might be more like scavenging.

 Yet as his head reared to sniff deeply at the air, he spotted a stranger. Familiar by scent only. Now he motioned for her to follow if she so wished. His hunger grew and threatened to bloom into frustration if he did not find the young prey in the crevices.

 The sound, which could only be described as bleating, seemed to have ceased for the moment. Only the soft tinge of blood filled the rainy, damp air.

 Perhaps it had not been willingly abandoned, but wounded. Forced to be left behind.

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She glanced up at him as he spotted her and lowered her head slightly, seeing him gesture her over. She only hesitated for a moment before she walked closer, her gaze shifting to the rocks and crevices. Slowly she lowered her head and sniffed, trying to figure out where the creature was. It took her a moment, but she shifted a few steps to the right, noticing a small opening, and possibly a place to dig at and create an opening. She stayed quiet but simply pointed at it, flicking an ear slightly and backing away. 

She wasn't keen on letting someone else do all the work, but she also didn't want to steal the hunt from the stranger. And so, she would wait to see what he did, intent on helping him dig if he started to do that. Or, she would do whatever else he needed her to do.

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tagged just to be safe!

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 He needed no motioning, he had set out upon this task with a goal.

 He used his heft to remove one rock and quickly found the source barely inside. A kid fresh to the season had seemingly fallen among the mountain's dangerous, wet slopes. If its mother roved the mountainside still, it did so without worry for what it had left behind. No goat emerged to buck him off what he had discovered.

 The young goat's leg was injured. Crushed, precisely. The fall had surely done a number and a tumbling free rock had sealed the deal. Stuck beneath a stone that would have trapped it till starvation or dehydration anyway. Utterly injured in a way it would never survive. To take it was a mercy more than pleasure of a hunt, at this point.

 He opened his jaws, prepared to strike and end the suffering, to bring about a meal in this tragedy. She'd have only but a moment if she dared to protest.

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She saw him start pulling away the rocks and boulders and moved to help, though she wasn’t nearly as strong as he was. Still, she helped him pull away a few pieces of debris, giving him more access to the young creature. Part of her felt bad for it, but she didn’t move to stop him from killing it.

She knew better, the poor thing wouldn’t survive without a mother, and she knew it was a good source of food for the pack. And so, she backed away slightly, just enough to give the man ample room to finish the kill. He was the one to find it after all, so he got the last kill.

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 A crushing blow, his jaws came down hard and fast around a frail neck.

 A hunter's success did not feel like it fit here. Instead it felt given, as if the world smiled upon him for but a moment. Yet it had only smiled with tragedy and teeth sharper than his own. He had no qualms in hunting young prey, but this had not been any of that.

 It had been trapped and he had ended it.

 Now he pulled it free, letting it hang in his jaws. Turned to face her if she still remained, then dropped it just as promptly. Hers if she so wished it.

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She let him kill the small creature, not really bothering to stop him or even help out. It wasn't like it took too much effort to do so. And so instead she simply sat there and let him kill the young prey. However, what she wasn't expecting was for him to drop it in front of her, offering it to her. She blinked a few times, taken a bit off guard by the offer. He didn't even know her, other than being in the same pack, and it confused her. And so, she didn't instantly accept it, her lingering trauma and anxiety making her question if it was a trick or a cruel joke of some sort. 

And so instead she would cock her head to the side, flicking one ear. "For... me?" She asked, her voice soft and barely over a whisper, almost as if she were too scared to question it too loudly.

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 He found himself puzzled by her question. Blinked softly. Perhaps she thought he ought to give it to @Hydra ? Which was not so terrible an idea, but his loyalty must be to all of Empyrean as well as her.

 “For you. Unless you don't like it.”

 Yet Hydra had spoken of famine. He did not imagine any would be very picky with any meal that fell upon their lap.

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Her ears pinned to her head and her face got hot, shaking her head quickly as he spoke, wondering if she didn't like it. "Oh no. Thank you very much... I-I just am not.... uh... used to .... gifts." She stuttered softly, offering a slightly scared but otherwise kind smile. 

She hadn't had anything given to her before without an ulterior motive, or a half assed apology that followed pain. And so, she honestly didn't really know how to take it. "Thank you..." She leaned down to sniff at it, thinking for a moment before reaching down to begin eating. It was a wonderful meal and, slowly but surely, she found herself relaxing a little.

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 Gifts.

 The puzzled feeling in him only bloomed like a flower. He did not see the meal given to her as a gift. Merely a foundation of packmates, the building of Empyrean's strength must come from one another. Was she not treated as such? Perhaps an omega among them?

 “What is your rank?”

 His voice carried his soft confusion as his brows knitted disgruntledly.

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I apologize for my traumatized girl!

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She suddenly felt like she said something wrong and found herself shying away slightly from his question, holding back a whimper. Her ears pinned back and she stood up slowly, hesitantly lowering herself to the ground and backing away. 

"I uh... I'm an...Upsilon..." She watched him closely, her body tense as she was about two seconds away from bolting, worried that she had said something wrong and he would attack her soon.

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 So why did she not act as such?

 “Do they not treat you as such here?”

 He could not understand why she felt the need to submit to him. If ranks were shared, but she had surely been here longer? It should have been the other way around!

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She tensed herself but nothing happened. No attack came, no harsh words, no threats. And she, she looked up at him, thinking for a moment at his words. "They... they do... I just..." She sighed and tried to relax, reminding herself that she was in Empyrean still and not back in Demonia. "I'm sorry... Empyrean has be wonderful... I just... the last pack I was in .... they weren't as kind." She would simply say, tilting her head slightly to show the large scar on the side of her cheek.

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 A kinder man would have founds words of wisdom and kindness. Things of reassurance. A kinder man would have bundled them up politely like a bouquet. Medvjed was not this kind of man. Instead he only sought to gruffly build a sense of unity.

 “Empyrean is a unit.”

 He licked his lips, gestured for her to return to the young goat he had mercy hunted. For her to continue her feast.

 “It must be tended to as such.”

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She wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't something as simple as that. And so, she found herself relaxing a little cocking her head to the side as he gestured back to the meal. Sitting herself back down, she would lean down, pulling the prey in half and lightly tossing the other half to him. It wasn't a very big creature, but it was her way of thanking him. "Then a unit we will be." She spoke softly, mostly to herself as if she was still trying to convince herself.

But, she had already grown more comfortable with Hydra, so she figured she could get comfortable with the other members as well, it would just take some time. "I'm Aerys, by the way."

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 He found it unnecessary, to split such an already small meal. Yet he wished no longer for the back and forth of this. If she gave him half, then he would carry his given half to a cache.

 “Medvjed.”

 He snorted softly, warmly. Now he picked up his half and grunted. He wished to depart now, but would not stray if she had more to share.

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She found herself rolling her eyes slightly as he took the half to the cache and chose to finish her own pretty easily. She heard his name and remained silent, watching him walk away. 

She lingered for a moment, watching him leave before she also left, heading out to find a place of silence, a place she could gather her herbs in peace.

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